The New England Patriots evaded mention as a team tied to the Lamar Jackson trade sweepstakes for weeks. That changed in recent days.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler mentioned the Patriots as a “wild card” for Jackson on Sunday morning’s edition of “SportsCenter.” Jackson was franchise tagged by the Baltimore Ravens.

Via NESN.com:

“Right now there’s no real firm offer sheet for Lamar Jackson that I’m aware of,” Fowler said. “Teams are probably slow-playing this. The draft could be a good indicator because you have a team like the Colts at number four. If they feel like they can’t get the quarterback of the future they wanted to draft maybe they pivot to Lamar Jackson. The Jets, if they strike out with Aaron Rodgers, certainly that’s not expected, but they could pivot. And then you got some wild cards like Tennessee or New England. Teams that like to run the ball. You never know.”

Wild card is probably the right way to put it since it’s tough to put anything past Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who once signed wide receiver Antonio Brown.

Any team can sign Jackson to an offer sheet. If he accepts the offer sheet and Baltimore matches, the Ravens would retain Jackson’s rights. If Baltimore declined to match, Jackson would be traded to the team signing him to an offer sheet for two first-round picks.

ESPN’s Dan Graziano said last week on “Get Up,” also via NESN.com, that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of the Patriots attempting to trade for Jackson.

We have our doubts. One league source didn’t believe there was anything to the recent rumblings of New England’s interest citing money as a hindrance. Jackson seemingly wants a fully guaranteed contract, and the Patriots have just $13.1 million in cap space. They do have plenty of cap space in 2024 and beyond if they wanted to backload a contract.

Jackson would undoubtedly be an upgrade over Patriots QB Mac Jones, but the Patriots have made other moves to improve their roster this offseason, have limited salary cap space and would need to fork over two first-round picks.

Still, it's Belichick. It's one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the NFL. The Patriots need to make a major move to compete in the AFC. And if New England acquired Jackson after the draft, they would need to give up 2024 and 2025 first-round picks. There's some logic to a move in New England. We're just not fully convinced they'll pull the trigger.

Featured image via Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports